The following came in an early September email.
The Knights of Columbus of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Ramona (30 minutes northeast of San Diego on Highway 78) will present an appearance by lay evangelist Jesse Romero on Friday, October 11, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Romero has a Master’s Degree in Catholic Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH. Before and since then, he has spent his time teaching, speaking, writing, and giving Bible studies and conferences on all matters Catholic.
With the same passion and commitment that made him a three-time World Police Olympics boxing champion, a former U.S.A. middleweight kickboxing champion and a retired veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Jesse shares Catholic teaching with an exciting style that is guaranteed to strengthen, edify and fortify you with a deeper love for God.
Free Event. There will be a Free Will Offering.
The Knights will be on hand to sign up new members and answer any questions you may have about their organization.
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH
537 E STREET, RAMONA, CA 92065
Email dianec@flexsystems.com to confirm you will be there and how many will attend.
This sounds awesome…I pray to make it!
This may be all well and good; however, why isn’t a great subject like this being taught by someone(s) with ecclesiastical authority? I think it would grand if one of the princes of the church, no rather all of the princes of the church dioceses throughout the world held seminars like this and then in-fact repeated it in a few of their Sunday sermons and diocesan newsletters to make sure the message got out and rang loud and clear. Perhaps one of the Vatican offices could put together the contents so that all practicing modern Catholics would get one holy and apostolic seminar! I hope Art talks about the importance of the rosary and how to say it, many don’t know how to say the rosary you know! We need people to say it more than ever otherwise great harm will come to our souls and to our nation.
Art yes our priests should teach but they are busy….so praise God for Jessie Romero…he is really awesome speaker! Praise God for his faithfulness and the way he speaks, he grabs attention even from our youth, which we need to be reaching out to even more with how this culture is…..Praise Be JESUS CHRIST…like Jessie tells people to do….go tell two people that!
This should bring back more fallen away Catholics as well…..Like St. Paul has always preached…St. Paul tells us to reach people at their own level and Jessie does an excellent job at doing that….so thankful we have good speakers like him who defend and edify us in our faith. As much as we are well grounded…we still need this to keep us going.
I know Jesse, HE WILL TALK ABOUT THE ROSARY!
May God have mercy on America and on its cowardly “bishops”!
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Kenneth, what’s your beef about America’s “bishops?”
Do you think they are not validly ordained?
Or do you think they belong to a non-Catholic sect, which, of course, is like the church YOU attend in Orange County, which sets up its own rules from its own cafeteria list?
Michael God help us…y0u are either misinterpreting Mr, Fisher in what he is truly intending to say or you are just starting an argument…..maybe you are new and have not read many of the threads here on the recent scandals that have concerned many?
God bless Jessie Romero….we pray for him and his family and pray that God uses him to bring back more to the faith.
You are right, Art, about clergy being able to lead: but the other side of that coin (knowing several priest-acquaintances pretty well, for what it is worth) is that a lot of people “turn off” anything clergy-types say now, for all the reasons, some quite convenient, that we both could list. Mr. Romero might be able to get through to (especially) young people on a different band width.
You are right Steve…
The Baltimore Catechism asked ‘Why did God create us?” and the answer was given, ‘To make us happy with Him forever n Heaven.” The follow up question was, “What must we do to get to Heaven?”, and the very simple straightforward answer was “To know, love and serve God in this world”. Catholic leaders are supposed to teach the faith, so the people can in turn love and serve God. We cannot love or serve someone we do not know. But for almost fifty years, there has been no teaching of the faith, just a watered down socialistic hippie kind of doctrine instead. That explains the baptized atheists who are present almost everywhere in today’s world. Teaching is very important, so we can know about God, and then by experiencing His grace active in our lives, we can then serve Him faithfully by obeying the commandments and precepts of the Catholic Church. When we do this, we are loving God above all things and are loving our neighbor as ourselves. The Church needs a present day Archbishop Sheen to reach out to the people who are starving to death for the truth. It is a shame that only a couple lay voices are heard, while there is practically nothing being proclaimed by the bishops and priests.
fatherkarl I am wondering if some of the priests are not given permission to teach or preach? There are a few excellent group of priests who do. We have the Fathers of Mercy lead by Fr. Bill Casey. Here is a background info about them:
The Fathers of Mercy is a Roman Catholic Congregation of Priests. Our primary Apostolate is to preach parish missions and retreats, with an emphasis on the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Confession. We are interested in solid Catholic men who are interested in a priestly and religious vocation.
Who Are The Fathers of Mercy?
The Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy was founded in 1808, originally under the title of the “Missionaries of France.” The community was founded for the purpose of re-evangelizing the French people after the Catholic Faith had been subjected to years of attacks and persecution during the French Revolution. It is now an exclusively American community. The Generalate of the community is located a few miles outside of Bowling Green, Kentucky. The primary apostolate of the Fathers of Mercy is to conduct parish missions and retreats, which are now given throughout the United States, Canada and Australia.
Also Father Shannon Collins goes out and preaches too. He is excellent. We do have groups of priests who’s vocations are to go out and teach…even outside of their area.
Jesse does great work but I wish he would cease with the altar calls. This is not Catholic. We should not be letting Protestants practices water down the Catholic faith
What are you talking about? You are wrong in your views and you just keep handing over more to the protestants with your views.
Now this is petty, OK I will re post what I originally asked:
I don’t know what alter calls mean? What is meant with that phrase and why is Jessie being accused of this?
“Altar calls,” I believe, are this Protestant thing whereby people are urged to step forward, in the middle of a service, and publicly pledge that they are dedicating their lives to their personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
They speak of their sins, their desire to convert, etc., and often then get baptized…again…and again…and again.
We Catholics believe baptism is ONCE for all.
We also believe that sins should be confessed to a priest, in the confessional, not proclaimed in some Protestant exhibitionist fashion for all the world to hear.
An altar call is a practice in some evangelical churches in which those who wish to make a new spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ are invited to come forward publicly. It is so named because the supplicants gather at the altar located at the front of the church building. In the Old Testament, an altar was where sacrifices were made. So, the name “altar call” refers to a believer “offering” themselves on an altar to God, as in Romans 12:1:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.[1]
Most altar calls occur at the end of an evangelical address invitation may be referred to as an “altar call” even if there is no actual altar present. Many preachers make use of the altar call; notable examples include Billy Graham, Benny Hinn, Franklin Graham and Reinhard Bonnke.[citation needed] Congregations often sing a hymn, usually with a theme of invitation or decision, during the altar call. Some churches make use of the sinner’s prayer, which people who come forward to be “saved” are asked to recite. It is sometimes said by the invitee that those who come forth are going to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is a ritual in which the supplicant makes a prayer asking for his sins to be forgiven, acknowledges Jesus as the risen Son of God and pledges his/her devotion to Jesus and to live thereafter following Christ’s teachings. This is often called being born again.
Thank you Michael. : ) I just don’t get what that has to do with Jessie R? I never witnessed him to do any of that. I don’t think he did anything that was not Catholic. He knows how to reach people in their own level and sometimes his style actually helps grab the attention of non Catholics, whom they need to be reached at their own level as well.
I don’t like this nit picking of Jessie. He is a very good man. He really loves the faith and studies it well.
Looks like he’s a force for good…
This applies to us all, not only priests and church leadership:
“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:2
Abeca, I must say most on CCD are quite good at the rebuke, some are good at correcting, but precious few encourage, or do any of these things with great patience or care.
YFC perhaps you may have missed it due to bad will. Have you missed my others comments of love and encouragement to do good? You must have, I am so sorry that you found them dull enough not to read them or even notice them. Often a times I see or hear the charity but often times, depending on the will, they often dismiss it and pearls seem to be unnoticed. But like a good priest once said ” charity does not go in vein, if someone does not listen with an open heart, then the graces that they lack to see or embrace, will go to another, one that will be more open to them.
Believe it or not, but I have been praying for you. Sometimes words do not need to be exchanged here often to the same individuals especially now when those individuals doe not listen attentively…but in prayers we meet up with our Lord and ask for another for their better good. My prayers won’t go to waste with you YFC because if you reject the graces then I trust that our Lord will send His graces where they are welcome, after all….man has free will. You choose. God bless you and I mean that.
THAT, Abeca, is a very nice post. And I am grateful for every prayer. Thank you.
Your welcome YFC……I sang the Divine Chaplet of Mercy. It’s so beautiful. I will continue to pray for you. And thank you as well. God bless you and keep you save from the powers of evil that are taking souls. The blood of Jesus cleanse us and the sores on His body are to remind us of the real reason He hurts. Whatever sores and aches we endure, may it be for our better good and salvation, may we humbly acknowledge the existence and unchanging truths handed down to mankind from the beginning. This humility will help us to be meek. Just looking to the cross makes me meek, my sins put Him there. I feel sorry and want to avoid sin. Our sins put Him there. The blood of Jesus will help us carry on our cross here on earth and let us not defy God by misleading others into sin.
I agree with you Candace, altar calls have definitely the stench of Protestantism and should not be part of anything Catholic. Any other negatives about Jesse’s presentations?
The busy pastor of our small parish has initiated a weekly study of our Catholic Catechism and found so many respondents that he had to quickly order additional copies in order to supply everyone – in addition he had to move the meetings to a larger venue in order to accommodate the large response. This saintly man also leads the RCIA program and a weekly study of the Old Testament. Too bad he is probably the exception rather than the rule on how the clergy should be leading the fathful.
Yes Jessie Romero is a saintly man….I praise Jesus for him and pray for more to step up to the plate and do more for our church!
pray the rosary…pray the magnificat…go to confession with great regularity…receive the sacraments and practice corporal works of mercy as often as possible, not because you have too, but because God want’s us too…
Prasied be Jesus Christ now and forever…
AMEN!
Abecca, Are priests are busy? Doing what? Practicing their social skills no doubt. The lay men and women do many of their functions these days. The deacons do many of their functions these days? The modern priests apparently have plenty of time for political issues like illegal immigration. How many spend a few more than a couple of hours of their time in the confessional each week? I’ve seen nuns and deacons and Eucharistic ministers taking communion to the sick. My father’s friend and pastor didn’t come to visit him the last two weeks mcy father lay dying on his death bed. I am so very thankful that my father asked for a traditional Roman Catholic priest to give him the last sacraments of Extreme Unction and Confession before he died. My traditional Roman Catholic priest braved below zero blizzard and blustery cold conditions driving over 5 hours in the middle of a long night to help save my dad’s soul! I will thank God for eternity for my traditional Roman Catholic priest’s formation, charity, and courage.
Art the good priests are busy doing God’s work, there are many good faithful people who follow them, so they are kept busy. They are a few, sad to say. I’m so sorry about your dad’s pastor friend. It is sad. I had the same thing almost similar…we had a friend who is a priest visit but he said he couldn’t help out because it was not his area? or something like that. He never called again to check on us to see who we were doing with the death of my papa, and I was the one who kept encouraging him on his vocation, so we had a good friendship, so I thought. Another priest, whom we use to drive far to visit his parish because we thought he was more holy and a little bit more devout, he asked that I look for a more local priest to visit my aunt who was very ill, that was before she passed though. That was a while back now. Well we can go on with stories but that is the reality of things and it does no good, we need to take it up to the individuals personally. We keep forgetting that our priests are human, no I am not making excuses for them, but if they have liberal superiors, it’s harder for them and I have seen very holy and devout priests change their holiness due to having grief from their superiors. Therefore we need to pray for them and keep encouraging them. They need it as much as we need it.
Well Jessie is doing God’s will by preaching and I have met even priests become better pastors due to them listening to these lay faithful who are good teachers. They may not get it from their bishops but they may actually learn the faith better from the lay faithful who actually take it deeper into their hearts.
Art, you don’t need a “Traditional Catholic Priest” to save your soul — each priest can do this.
Sacraments administered by any priest are administered by CHRIST, who simply uses the priest as His instrument — whether the priest is old or young, dumb or brilliant, born here or an import from abroad. Even sinful priests are Jesus’ instruments, according to the teaching of the Church, so calling in some ringer from five hours away is just bizarre.
Michael from what I understood from Art’s comments, I think he knows what you said but he was speaking about how, in his experience, was that “Traditional Catholics Priests” take the time more often to actually feed Christ’s sheep. I think that is what he was speaking off. I think that more and more I hear the same from others who speak of their personal experience. Just saying…God bless you. : )